This is a post of acronyms.

About ALA. Wow. Wow. Wow wow wow. It was amazing. It was a former English teacher’s dream. Famous authors + awesome librarians=heaven. I was only in DC for 26 hours but a lot happened during those hours. (A lot has happened since I returned home, too. The Boys are passing around the throw-up-stomach-flu. My favorite! Stomach flu+potty-training=a special kind of hell.)

But back to ALA.

My first event was the Penguin dinner, where I got to meet authors like Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, and David Levithan. It was wonderful and a bit scary because we all had to give a three minute speech about our books to the 100 people at the dinner. Whew. I am glad that is over. Can you imagine? “I’m going to talk about my book at the same dinner in which Laurie Halse Anderson and John Green and David Levithan are going to talk about their books?”

I got scared again just thinking about it.

But they were also very nice. See pictures below. Please try to ignore how scary-excited I am in the picture with John Green. I’m sorry. I get scary-excited when I meet people I admire (my husband and I both love John Green’s books and have a long-standing “discussion” about which one the other should love most). Also ignore the shine on my face. DC is humid, people. I do not miss that about living back East. I like the weather like I like my Sprite cocktail–dry and crispy.

I am always floored by how generous and kind YA authors are to one another. This was another weekend in which I thought about how amazing this is. Melissa Marr wrote a blurb for Matched and I FINALLY got to meet her and she was wonderful too (and super funny).

The morning after the Penguin dinner, we had YA Coffee Klatch, which was basically speed dating nine tables of librarians, and I wanted to be betrothed immediately to all of them. Then I had a book signing at the Penguin Booth and it was awesome. So fun to meet people and to see them walk away with copies of MATCHED. It was so fun that I left my cell phone there and didn’t realize it until I was trying to call home to tell my husband when he could pick me up at the airport. Awesome! I like to leave an expensive electronic device in every city I visit. It’s my calling card. Next up: my laptop.

My beautiful, fun cousin Andrea came to the book signing (she is the one holding MATCHED in the first picture). Her incredibly nice husband came too and it kind of made the whole ALA for me. To have someone I’ve known and loved for years take that time to come hang out and be there for me was so nice. We got to go to lunch afterwards and it was perfect.

And. I may have left my cell phone in the Penguin booth, but I also accidentally walked away with a copy of MATCHED that Penguin had given me to use during the Coffee Klatch event. (Not only am I flaky, but I am also prone to thievery.) So. Another giveaway, perhaps?

Let’s do it. Just leave a comment. And if you are a follower you get double entries. This will be open until midnight MST next Tuesday, July 6th. I’m going to limit it to the USA…sorry about that. And if you have already won/obtained an ARC or don’t claim it by July 10th I will select a new number.

Sometimes this blog doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up.

I like blogs about writing and about people who are interesting. So, I think, I should write about writing, and I should try to be interesting. And then I write about random other stuff instead and it’s always kind of a muddle. Today especially.

So here are some numbers for you because I can’t seem to find any words:

396: pages in Book 2 of the MATCHED series (very, very drafty pages)

200+: times I’ve listened to Till The Sun Turns Black and Empty by Ray LaMontagne. And I still get teary every time. The man is a genius. That voice. Those lyrics. The melodies, so understated and unbelievable. I couldn’t have written this manuscript without these songs in my mind.

6: hours a week that I go to the library to write (I just started doing that this month thanks to my very wonderful cousin who watches the kids and it has ROCKED MY WORLD)

1: classes I taught at WIFYR last week

100%: how much I enjoyed it

2: terrible reviews of my previous books that I read OUT LOUD in aforementioned class

2: cute boys enrolled in soccer

1: cute boy who is very mad that he is NOT enrolled in soccer, but he’s too little

11.5: loads of laundry done last week (the .5 is the load that is sitting in the washer waiting to get in the dryer)

4: more days until I leave for ALA in Washington, D.C. (very excited!)

323: followers of this blog–big thanks to all of you.

And now I can regale you with BEA: A Photo Essay. (I used to have my students do a photo essay assignment when I taught 10th grade English. I am sure they LOVED it.) First up: This is my street the morning before I left. (Daphne, if you are reading this, please let me know if you want me to remove this picture of your very lovely home.)

This is Central Park while I was in NYC. Not a bad trade.

And here we have me, Don Weisberg (the President of Penguin Books for Young Readers), and Jodi Reamer, my agent. And a giant poster of MATCHED. These two people, along with (of course) my editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel, are the ones who have been behind MATCHED all the way and who have put their faith in this book and in me. It’s an incredible honor to work with them.

The line at BEA. Jodi, who took this picture, assures me that it is actually the line for MATCHED at BEA. I would think she were lying to me to support my delusions of grandeur, but Penguin has been so great at getting the word out about the book that I am tempted to believe Jodi. And then I remember the last signing I had a month or so ago, where I signed five books, and I doubt again. Authors. Why are we so insecure? (For the record, I never actually doubt Jodi. That would be stupid.)

A pile of beautiful, beautiful MATCHED ARCs. I found out at BEA that the model in the photo and the photographer are the same person. Her name is Samantha Aide and she is incredibly gorgeous and talented (obviously).

And the grand finale. A photo of the YA Buzz Panel. From left: Rebecca Maizel, Erin Bow, me, Sophie Jordan, and Kody Keplinger. This was a really, really fun panel and the moderator was fantastic. I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s books. These were all very lovely women with extraordinary imaginations and I felt very lucky to be in their company.

And so ends BEA, the Photo Essay. The writing in this photo essay was not nearly as good as my students’ was when they did this assignment. I’m going to blame it on the fact that I am trying to write a sequel and potty-train Boy 2 AT THE SAME TIME. What? That’s no excuse? How about the fact that I am also heading off to present at the WIFYR Workshop this afternoon and I can’t find my handouts? I can’t teach without handouts! They are my security blanket. I don’t know who stole them. Probably the same person that made me lose my camera after BEA.

edited: Now, with a picture from Penguin Teen! Documenting the drinking of water! And the shortness of me!

But no pictures. If wild and crazy photos of me signing books and standing around smiling at BEA surface on the internet, you will know that someone has sold my camera for ill-gotten gains. There may also be a picture of me sitting up on a stage for a panel discussion and looking concerned. The scandal!

So here is the one sentence summary of BEA: It was just about perfect.

I am not perfect, my books are not perfect, my kids are not perfect (which may be part of why I love them so dearly). I don’t usually expect anything to be perfect, which isn’t to say that I don’t expect it to be great. I just don’t usually think things will go as smoothly as this did.

Which means that people were working very hard behind the scenes. I’m incredibly grateful to my publisher for putting everything together and for all the work they did to make things work so well at the signing, for the panels, etc.

I loved being on the YA Buzz Panel, listening to fellow authors Kody Keplinger, Sophie Jordan, Erin Bow, and Rebecca Maizel talk. I adored sitting in the audience during the YA Editors Buzz Panel listening to my editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel, talk about MATCHED. She was out of this world awesome. I felt like all of the titles sounded so interesting and I felt very lucky that MATCHED was included in their company.

It was also lovely talking with people. My agent. My editor. My publicist, who was unfailingly unflappable. The other authors I got to meet and attend the ABC dinner with (Andrea Cremer and Heather Brewer, who are both kind and fun to be around, have excellent hair, and are the authors of fantastic books). The previously mentioned very wonderful Gayle Forman. I loved the bloggers who came up and introduced themselves, and the people who came through my line for the galley signing. I have had book signings before where I’ve signed two books. To have a line of people was so exciting for me (and yes, I know the books were free, but please don’t rain on this very shiny parade I’m having).

Cocktail hours/dinners always have that moment where: the waiter asks for my drink order and I say that I’ll have water, or Sprite, and inevitably someone who I’m talking with hears my order and remembers I’m from Utah and then it clicks and I get asked the Mormon question. (The answer is: yes.) Gayle pointed out in the comments on my last post that I can order fun drinks, like ginger ale (which I ALWAYS get on airplanes). Genius!

I think next time I might say, “Chocolate milk.” Maybe then they will also bring me a toy with my dinner.

So. BEA was great. And part of why it was great was that, even though I had fun every minute (especially the part where I was sleeping through the night UNINTERRUPTED FOR THREE NIGHTS), it made me so happy to come home and hug the kids. So huggable, those kids. So cute. So funny and winsome. They deserve a toy with their dinners. Good thing I picked up that tiny stress-relief judge’s mallet that one of the booths was giving away. It’s so awesome and squishy. I wish I could take a picture of it for you, but, you know. No camera.

Also, here is a link to the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop, which takes place NEXT WEEK! I’m presenting this year and I’m SO excited. Come this year. Make plans to come next year. It’s always, always good.

And another link to a contest that Sandy Shin is running for a pre-ordered copy of MATCHED. I’m so flattered! Sandy’s blog is great–about her writing journey, her life, etc. Check it out.

So, the original winner didn’t claim the ARC and the new winner is:

TheLibraryLurker (comment #107)!

Congratulations!

And, the lovely and kind and incredibly talented author Gayle Forman is also giving away an ARC of MATCHED on her blog. Click here for more info. I got to meet Gayle at BEA and she was SO LOVELY to me. It’s so nice when someone whose writing you admire is kind to you.

There are other giveaways going on as well. Which is very fun.

No camera yet. I think the car company must be holding it hostage. They haven’t told me what the ransom is yet though so I can’t pay it.

So maybe I will just give up and write the BEA post on Tuesday, pictures or no pictures. Is the suspense killing you? Let me set the stage. Me. In New York. In a fancy restaurant. Drinking water instead of a cocktail (as always).

I know. Riveting, right?

…Lola Martin!

Congratulations, Lola! Yay! Please e-mail me your address (my e-mail is allyATallysoncondieDOTcom) and I will send it to you ASAP! You have until Friday, June 4th at midnight MST to claim the ARC. I hope you enjoy the book.

Thank you all very much for your comments and entries. I was so thrilled by the response! And completely surprised.

Also, there are some other MATCHED ARC giveaways going on. The awesome people at societyomatched are doing a giveaway as well.

To come in a day or two: BEA post, w/ pictures. Because I am a genius, I left my camera in the car that brought me back from the airport. (Is it sort of scary that I am in charge of three small children on a day-to-day basis?) But once I get the camera back, beware…